WAITING FOR THE HARVEST
The Display Only exhibition in the Big Blue Building was good! Over 100 people visited in the 6 hours it was open, which isn’t bad going for a slightly sleepy Eastbourne Sunday.
My policy of re-viewing and re-visiting continues to be worthwhile. I showed The Golden Seed installation which I have showed only once before as my MA show last September. I had to slightly re-write the story which accompanies the installation to take account of the different stage of the tree’s cycle (last time I showed it it was laden with fruit). The sound recording I’d made of the story was, I felt, an interesting step forward, though sitting through it for 4 hours of invigilation helped me identify the areas in which it could be pruned from its current 16 minutes, to a more listenable 10 minutes. (That’s another job on my To Do list.) It was interesting though, that several people who’d seen the installation last time, missed having a printed version of the story, so perhaps there is room for both sound and text.
The notion of “waiting for the harvest” which was suggested in the re-write of the story was re-inforced with the introduction of an armchair, coffee table and books, which I liked – it introduced the idea of a human presence behind the scenes and the domesticity of these additions worked well.
The most important thing however, is that I felt it all still worked, and most importantly, that it is worth showing again – even with all the time and effort (and slightly inevitable stress) which that involves.
DISPLAY ONLY
Started installing today at the Big Blue Building temporary space where I’m re-trying my Golden Seed installation. Everyone else is installing at the weekend, so I’m in a position of some luxury, having the whole place to myself to spread out and construct my timber framed structure which forms the central part of my installation.
The downside of this luxurious solitude is that there’s no-one to help with the tricky bits! The loading and unloading from van and car; the lifting and moving and propping up. Over the years I have learned how to to do a lot of things single-handedly, but I have to admit, it doesn’t get any easier! It took all day, but I did manage to finish constructing the three frameworks which form the three sides of my growing chamber. Tomorrow I’ll stretch the silver mylar film over them with the help of a very welcome volunteer helper (thanks Erin!) so that hopefully by Wednesday I’ll be ready to erect the whole structure with the help of another welcome helper (thanks Clare!)
I think I’m on target, but still a lot to do.
TRIALS AND TECHINICAL TRIBULATIONS!
What a strange and frustrating week it’s been. Annoyingly random hours for Census Collecting (but nearly all finished now!); an imminent weekend house swap in order to dog/granny/house-sit; a couple of days on-and-off spent wondering what was wrong with my suddenly dead internet connection, messing about trying to diagnose the problem, and eventually managing to restore it; and, most annoyingly three attempts to make a voice recording of the text for my forthcoming installation at Display Only next week using my new little sound recorder with what I now know to be a faulty memory card. Ho hum. I suppose if those are my worst problems it’s not all that bad! It’s just been a bit trying.
Anyway, I have made some progress. The new supplies I need for the installation are on order & should be here tomorrow. I think I’ve got the sound recording almost sorted – we’ll see. Then when I get back from the house-swap, hopefully I’ve got a reasonably uninterrupted week to install next week. The van is arranged for Monday to transport timber, materials and equipment. It’ll be good to get started.
Picked up my work from the East Sussex Open today – at least the video piece, Just Looking For A Place (Refuge) – the wall drawing will soon be painted out by the technical staff at Towner! And I actually remembered to set it up in my studio to photograph it properly before it’s all packed away. Hope I get the chance to show it again – it’s such a nice box!
